Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Celebrating the regional cuisines of India - Blog event

Hi everyone

I have been toying around with the idea of starting a blog event. The event called as 'Celebrating the Regional Cuisines of India' (RCI) will be a monthly event and will feature recipes from one particular regional cuisine. You can submit recipes from major categories like starters/appetizers, snacks, side dishes, main course, salads, pickles, chutneys, desserts...anything to do with food, simply let your imagination run wild. Your posts can also include information and tips specific to the chosen cuisine of the month. Anything that will help us understand and appreciate the culture and food of the chosen region. You can post recipes either from fellow bloggers, the Internet, friends or family. You are welcome to submit more than one recipe.

It is a Herculean task to do this all myself so I thought it would be best to invite fellow bloggers to host the event every month. All you need to do is choose the cuisine and the month in which you would like to host the event.

I would like to line up the cuisine of the month starting April to December 2007. Since, this post comes at a very short notice, I will host the April event - the theme will be 'Tamil Cuisine'. I will post the detailed guidelines soon. Here are the broad guidelines for the RCI monthly event.

1. Each event will begin on the first of the month.2. Post as many recipes as you like on your blog and email the following details to the host's email ID.(a) Your name(b) Link to the recipe from your blog(c) A picture of the recipe3. Do include any regional info you would like to share about the cuisine of the month in your post.4. Deadline for all entries will be the 25th of the month.5. The guidelines for the host of the month would be(a) Announce the event on your blog at least 15 days in advance which means by the 15th of each month. You can also post reminders to the event on your blog. I will post this information on my blog too.(b) Give a brief write up about the regional cuisine you are planning to host.(c) Do a roundup of the event on the 1st of the next month.

So, let's get cooking and celebrate the food and culture of the myriad cuisines of India. If you are interested to host this event email me at veggiecuisine@gmail.com with the cuisine and the month in which you would like to host the RCI.

what a fine idea! i am quite a newbie to food blog events but would be interested in hosting this event maybe in late summer/early fall... i will email you... this month's Tamil cuisine is so varied - i better get on it soon - 25th is only a few days away :-)

Hi LakshmiK! A nice event you've started here. Will surely participate. Please do read about the Safety Moment on my blog. Pl also let me know if you are interested in hosting it in the following months. Look forward to you contribution too. :)

WAH!!!! One more event!!!! More the merrier...... and a good excuse to cook something ;)

Great idea LakshmiK... Will cook up something soon!!!!!!

There is one small problem..... with someone like me who is not a south indian, any dish coming from south is a south indian dish...... difficult to guess weather its from tamilnadu or karnatak or andhra!!!!!!!!!!! PHEW!!!!! Guess will have to ask someone...... may be you only. :)

hi Lakshmi,nice to know this. thsi is a great a idea to start such event . MIne is the same case as Coffee. will have to diferentiate which is region special for andhra/karnataka/tamilnadu....there are so many friends like you around here to help i think :) . will try if i can cook up anything for event, as i m little away from kitchen these days by being at mom;s home to enjoy her food and sweetness of love all the day... I can host it for Gujarati cuisine for any month , cant tell you the month yet now. if you wich then let me know, will let you know and do it for that month. -Pooja

Yes, I understand your problem. That's precisely why I started this event. We can experiement foods from different cuisines and learn their techniques of cooking too. South Indian cuisine is a broad area and has Andhra, Tamil, Karnataka, Telangana cuisines. Try searching the web for tamil cuisine and you will find loads of recipes. Your recipe does not have to be perfect but it will be real fun to experiment.

Lakshmi,That's a super concept. It will give all of us a chance to learn each other's cuisine and culture.Lakshmi, it would be great if you could provide a brief intro about main ingredients and spices used in Tamil cuisine.Hey, I would like to host this event in May..If it's not been already taken by someone. It's my bday in May:) Do let me know..Swaps

May, June and July are already lined up. Do you want to do August or September? I have written the same reply to Swapna too. I was also thinking whether we should include non-veg dishes. If participants want to post non-veg dishes it's up to them. I think we can leave it open at this point of time.